My 2nd race day. After a week off for the dwarf cars, I had finished the repairs from the week 1 crash and was ready to try again. The crew (wife & daughter) and I woke up at 7 am and loaded the trailer to head to the track at 9. We arrived at about 9:45 am and was the first dwarf car to show up. I parked in the same place as the first race. Off loaded the car and went to look at the newly prepared track. It looked great and I could tell the track personnel had worked hard on it.

After the drivers meeting, it was time for hot laps and the test of my repaired car. The track was awesome and the car drove like it did before the crash. I was very relieved since I didn’t have time to use the club’s practice track to test the car.

The heat race was interesting. I had one goal that was my priority over the other self-improvement goals I had…… DON’T HIT ANYTHING. I started 5th and moved to 4th after we got through turn 1. On the 3rd lap of the race, the car in front of me went high in turn 1 and spun down in front of me and of course I hit him. I thought it was more of a glancing hit since it didn’t slow me down much, but it bent my new bumper. The front suspension turned out to be undamaged. After a couple more cautions that didn’t involve me, the race was over and I finished 4th.

After a long rain delay, it was time for the Sportsman Dwarf Car main…… under the lights. I had a lot of time to think in the staging line before the race because a sprint car had flipped multiple times and brought out a red flag in the race before ours. I kept thinking of how my plan of not hitting anything failed in the heat race…… and I was getting cold sitting there in my car. I was also thinking about doing better at lining up and getting better at taking the green flag. Finally, we line up and take the green! I started 11th and expected a wild turn 1 (remember my last main event start into turn 1). Whoo hoo we made it clean! I was driving pretty hard, but not overly hard because I wanted no damage in this race. As the laps went by, I started driving harder. I noticed I was starting to get a bit tired. I kind of wanted a caution as long as I wasn’t part of it. I was running just in front of the #40 who was faster in the corners, but I could pull a bit of a gap on the straight. We did that the whole race. The #40 and I started catching the others ahead as the laps dwindled down. I wasn’t sure how many laps were left because there was very little communication from the officials on the receiver. The white flag! Only one lap to go and I was catching the ones up ahead. There was a big bottle neck coming out of turn four and I let off a bit, then I saw the #40 going for the pass on my left side. I floored it even with the bottle neck, but I thought it was too little too late and the #40 got me. The track officials scored me ahead at the line and I finished 10th and with no damage! We all finished the race with NO CAUTIONS! Very cool and fun race with the #40. Things I learned: I did better lining up, but not good enough. I still need to work on that. Never let up coming to the line unless 100% necessary. I need to put a good setup in the car. I need new springs since the car is setup for a bigger person. Don’t drive like a wuss trying to not get damage. Rain delays suck. A couple of pics from the race weekend:

May 3, 2014

My first race day. I slept better than I thought I would. The pit crew (wife & daughter) and I loaded the car on the trailer faster than I thought we would before we headed to the track at 9 am. We arrived at the track at about 10 am and parked next to some teams that I know pretty well and off loaded the car. I was pretty clueless and watched what the others were doing and did the same. 12:00 was the drivers meeting. 1 pm was the start of hot laps. The track was muddy and pretty slick so I never could go full throttle without getting overly sideways. I went back to the pits to get some of the mud off, fill the fuel, and adjust the tire pressure. 2 pm was my first ever heat race. It was pretty uneventful and I got a bit more confidence before the main. It was cool being out there with the other cars. I finished 5th in my first heat. I went back to the pits to fuel up and check tires before the main. Now it was time for my first ever main event in the Sportsman Dwarf Cars. I wasn’t nervous until I was in the staging line hearing the laps of the race before mine count down in the ear buds of my receiver. We entered the track to form up, then a couple laps later the green flag flew. The track had dried and the amount of dust surprised me. Going into the first turn of the first lap, someone spun, cars took evasive action and I didn’t…..WHAM! I had hit the #78 car very hard. I didn’t see him until it was too late. I saw cars avoiding each other and a ton of dust….. then a giant 78. I guess I did a bad job of looking far enough ahead, which I think I do better now. I asked the track official if my car was ok and he said it just got the bumper. I continued, but noticed the car pulled left really hard, and the steering was more difficult to turn, not to mention the steering shaft in the car had bent and it was crazy to turn the steering wheel. I thought I would run a few laps to see how it does since I had to line up at the tail end of the line of the 14 car race. The green flew again. There were 6 more cautions in that race. I made it through all of them and ended up finishing 4th! The first lap crash bent my frame back to the motor mounts, bent a couple of steering heim joints, bent my steering shaft, bent my front right wheel rim, and totaled my bumper. I had the frame straightened and parts of it replaced and welded, built a new bumper, straightened the steering shaft, and replaced the heim joints. Thanks to John Woolsey & Don Winans for the help! Things I learned: I need to do a better job of looking far enough ahead. I need to line up closer to the car ahead of me during pace laps. I need to have better starts when the green flag comes out.Crash damage below: